Peggy Sue Addiction

I made another one. I might be addicted. This is such a quick little cardigan. Peggy Sue by Linda Wilgus again, in Baby Bamboo again.
I still didn't get to wear it, but this time, I had actually made it for someone else. My older daughter has 2 versions, and this one is for my younger daughter.

 

I love the twisted cable detail on the sleeves

I love the fitted waist using the same cable

and like how the cardigan looks good both buttoned and worn open.

Its lucky for me that Baby Bamboo comes in so many colours. .

Peggy Sue Two

Last year, I made my daughter a little navy blue cardigan from the free pattern by Linda Wilgus, Peggy Sue. She has been wearing it frequently, and I coveted it myself, so I started to knit one, in the next size up, in Flirt. This yarn by Sirdar has the same composition as the very popular Baby Bamboo, 80% Bamboo, 20% Wool (I used the Baby Bamboo last time), but the Flirt yarn is marketed as being in a  more adult colour palette (personally, I think the Baby Bamboo colours are mostly excellent for grown-ups), and has its own pattern book for women.
I chose a quite beautiful purple, called "Hypnotic" (255). Like the Baby Bamboo, this yarn has a very slight sheen when knitted up. I was thinking I would like the cardigan for casual social events during summer  - a BBQ at a friend's house, or something like that.

The teenage fashion panel approved greatly of the colour, and for Christmas, my daughter was given a lovely print blouse with exactly the same shade of purple in it.
It was not very surprising that the cardigan ended up in her wardrobe.



Here she is wearing it to go out to a "Colour" themed party




Here she is wearing it with her work clothes.
It really is a most versatile cardigan, and I still want one for myself!

Once again, I modified the pattern. This time I lengthened the waist twisted rib slightly again used short rows to raise the back neckline.
I started knitting another one almost immediately, and will show you what happened to that one shortly.

Killorgin: Artesenal yarn in cable

I promised actual garments, and here is the first of several unreported projects.

 

 I have been a very long time posting this cardigan, because the construction is a very long story. I started it in October 2012, on a long car trip (to Winton, very outback, so lots and lots of passenger time). Killorgin is gorgeous a top down construction from Carol Feller's Contemporary Irish Knits.

You can see from its appearance on the cover that it is a covet worthy cover project. I was really keen to knit it, but wanting it to be worn a lot, had to think carefully about my yarn choice for our relatively warm climate.

I picked a fabulous Queensland winter weight yarn, Aslan trends Artesenal, which has a wonderful tweedy look, whilst also containing enough cotton to make it suitable for the subtropical-excuse-for-winter cardi. Its other fibre is Alpaca. I had not used it before for a close knit cable pattern, so was interested to see how it behaved in comparison to a wool blend.

 

 My tension swatch worked out perfectly, so I thought I was good to go, and gleefully knit down to the waist shaping, then tried it on. Unfortunately, the size I made placed the central spaces of the largest cable "circle" directly over each bust apex. Having sufficient bust to feel somewhat self conscious about this I ripped out a good 20 cm, of the whole darned front AND back, and knit a bit more with some less bullseye placement of the cables. If I hadn't been in the outback at the time with no alternative knitting project and no yarn shops in 1000km in any direction, I think I would have given up at this point.Frogging this much is very discouraging. By the time we had returned home, I was back to the waist again, then discovered a horrible cable error (of mine) in the middle of the back, which involved ripping back 20 cm again, as it was too complicated an error (and cable) for a local fix.

 Guess what, other projects took over.

 It languished about until October last year, when I got it out to finish for a trip to New Zealand. I thought a nice knit jacket would be a bit smarter than polar fleece for lolling about in National Parks. I finished it off with a few minor modifications ( doubled neck for robustness, and grosgrain ribbon as backing for the zip insertion).

 It looked absolutely terrific until I had been wearing it for 2 days, when it assumed gorilla arm proportions and mysteriously elongated in the body by about 10 cm.  In wear, the yarn was too relaxed to keep the tension gauge properly. I was not happy.

 However, my younger daughter adopted the cardigan for a stretchy grunge look -not what I quite had in mind (fitted smart jacket was more my idea) but at least it is being worn.

 I love the pattern (aside from the cable space placement) and I love the yarn, but they are not a good combination. If I can work up the courage, I will be trying this again in a yarn with high proportion of wool, just like the designer intended ;). Artesenal is much better in more relaxed style projects.

Peggy Sue in Bamboo

I love this pattern, Peggy Sue by Linda Wilgus (free download on ravelry).



I've made it in Sirdar Baby Bamboo (80% bamboo, 20% wool DK) for my daughter, in the size XS with a few judicious additions and operator errors alternate design decisions. It took only 5 balls, with mere centimetres of yarn left over, so I am feeling very thrifty about it all.



Most of my changes were at the back. This cardigan is knitted from the top down, and as written has a very straight neckline. In order for the neckline to sit higher at the back than at the front, I added 10 short rows, tapering at the sleeve increases at the back.



I also found the cardigan to be a little tight for my daughter across the back (the advantage of knitting from the top down is trying-on opportunities), so added a few stitches here also.

In the pattern, the waist cabling starts at the bottom of the ribs. I was knitting away merrily in stocking stitch on automatic pilot and failed to refer adequately to my pattern at a crucial moment. This means that I had knit nearly 9 inches of stocking stitch instead of about 9 cm, so my waist cabling is a little shallow, due to a dislike of frogging perfectly good knitting.

This does not bother me particularly, as I still think the cardigan looks great - with jeans, shorts or even with office clothes.

 

Knit 5, Eyelet Cardigan

I have just finished the eyelet cardigan from Jo Sharp Knit 5. Whilst I am happy with the final result, I did not have plain sailing with this pattern due to fitting issues. I have described these in greater detail in my notes on Ravelry, but I admit to a lot of reverse knitting and work with the calculator at the armhole and upper sleeve. This is why I have been knitting this since April - sometimes knitting has to rest in the bag for a few weeks and think about its bad behaviour.

I particularly like the eyelet finish at the neck and waist. I think this gives just enough detail at the back to make the cardigan interesting. The closer fit of the single rib below the waist also appeals to me.
I made a few changes to the pattern aside from the fitting. I made full length sleeves, and used the eyelet stitch pattern within the rib buttoning band instead of making buttonholes. I like the effect of this buttoning band very much. It needed a lot more buttons, as the eyelet pattern holes are small.

My favourite part of knitting this cardigan was the luscious texture of the alpaca silk georgette yarn. I used colour 750, Briar. I think the texture of the cardigan will make it a staple of my wardrobe.

Sirdar Denim Ultra Chunky Cardigan Coat

Here is Hannah in her first major knitted project. Hannah has previously made a few scarves and some doll's clothes, but this coat includes her first ribbing, her first shaping, and her first real garment. Hannah is 14 years old, so I can see many more beautiful knitted clothes ahead.


The cardigan coat is knitted from Sirdar Ultra Denim, which is a wool/cotton/acrylic blend, just the right weight for a Queensland coat. It knits up quickly on size 10mm needles.
Hannah adapted a now out of print pattern (with some help from her mother) to make this cardigan. She took around 6 weeks to finish the cardigan, using 9 x 100g balls of yarn.

Knit 7 Origami Bolero Jacket

Here is one of our regular customers, Enid, in her Origami Bolero Jacket from Jo Sharp's Knit 7.

 

Enid prefers the jacket in its bolero incantation, to wear with jeans, but says she has some more formal wide leg black pants that she thinks will make a great outfit with the fitted cardigan direction. I am hoping to see this outfit too. Enid particularly likes the asymmetrical back of the shrug section of the jacket. She found the jacket very quick to knit.

 

Enid has used the colourway from version 1, but made long sleeves as in version 2. She did need an extra ball of SSK bisque cotton for the longer sleeves. She has a few half balls left over, and is planning a stripey knitted hat to wear with the jacket.

Jo Sharp Origami Jacket

When I first saw a preview of Knit 7 I fell in love with the Origami Bolero Jacket. I could hardly wait for the book to arrive. However, when I did get my hands on a copy, I could not instantly obtain all the colours of the original designs, so fiddled with some other colour combinations to see what I could do with this clever pattern.
My final choices for yarn were
A.Jo Sharp Desert Garden Aran Cotton 667 Dew (as in pattern)
B.Jo Sharp Summer DK Cotton 256 Bisque (as in pattern)
C.Jo Sharp Alpaca Kid Lustre 857 Elderberry (pattern uses 860 Cork).
D. and F. Jo Sharp Alpaca Silk Georgette 752 Ecru (pattern 758 Devon and 751 Pebble)
E. Jo Sharp Alpaca Silk Georgette 750 Briar

I am very happy with the jacket, and think I will wear it a lot this winter. The weight of the yarn mixtures is just perfect for a subtropical winter. I made the larger size, with the full length sleeves - version 2, but used the yarn types according to version 1 (A-F yarns). I was a little concerned that the arms would be too tight on me for an outer garment, as they are fairly close fitting on the model photograph, and slim arms are not exactly my fitting problem, but found that the lace pattern stretched beautifully to make a very comfortable garment over a knit top.
I used 5.5mm needles for the lace sections, but needed to go down to a 5mm needle for the moss stitch in order to obtain the correct gauge. This is unusual for me, I tend to knit rather firmly, and more often increase needle size - so check your tension very carefully before making this jacket. This is emphasised in the pattern instructions, and I agree totally, the tension is different in this pattern.

I love the way the jacket can be worn as a cardigan or as a bolero. There are quite a few patterns around that claim the garment can be worn in different ways, but frequently one way is far superior to the other. In this pattern, I find the garment equally successful worn with either end up. This is wonderful design.

Although it is not shown in the magazine, I think a third option is to wear the jacket in the bolero direction, fastened at the front. This gives yet another sillhouette to this versatile jacket. I think the length and style of the jacket works really well with my favourite pants pattern of the moment - the Marlene trousers #105 from Burda World of Fashion Magazine August 2008. Here is a back view of the fitted cardigan option. In Knit 7 the very slim and gorgeous model has a lot of room at the back in this view, as there are not a lot of curves at the front. Those of us with more bust end up with a much better fitting cargigan at the back IMO!

Several people have bought yarn for this jacket in the last few days, after trying on mine, which is very flattering. Most people are leaning towards the version 1 colourway, but I love the deep colours in Version 2 as well.
My next project is from Knit 5 - the eyelet cardigan, as I found the silk georgette so gorgeous with which to knit.

The origami jacket was a lovely quick knit, with plenty of interest for me in the stitch pattern and colour changes.